Gazing lovingly at her newborn son, Anthea Nicholas can still hardly believe she is a mum.
It’s an understandable post-natal reaction, considering her doctors think this semi- retired Gold Coast real estate agent is, at 50, almost certainly the oldest woman in Australia ever to fall pregnant naturally and give birth to her first child.
“It truly is a miracle,” says her obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr Andrew Cary, who has delivered thousands of babies.
“As far as I can see — and I have done some research — this should be the oldest first pregnancy naturally conceived. Quite amazing!
“The chances of Anthea conceiving must be the one-in-several-million and then to get through everything she did along the way, I would definitely call the fact we have a healthy baby a miracle.”
Nicholas Jay Byrnes was born at 34 weeks on June 15, at Pindara Hospital in Benowa on the Gold Coast. Weighing in at 2.6kg and 47cm long, he is the fulfilment of what Anthea and her husband, Peter Byrnes, 54, were once told was an impossible dream.
“Last year, the doctor told me I was going into menopause and now I’ve got a baby in my arms,” Anthea exclusively tells The Weekly. “It’s taking a while to sink in that I am a mum.
“But he is perfect — not a blemish! When you’re this old, you’ve only got one shot, so you had better get it right!”
Married in her 20s, divorced in her early 30s and then a part-time step-mum to two children in a 12-year relationship, Anthea says she shelved any plans for her own baby 15 years ago.
“I had closed the door on being a mum when I was 35. I just didn’t think motherhood would happen for me and I threw myself into my career, and I was very happy.”
Then Peter and Anthea met through work and started dating five years ago. Peter, the father of a grown son, suggested they explore their chances of having a child together.
“I always said I wished I had met Anthea earlier because she would make such a wonderful mum,” says Peter.
In 2007, their doctor gave them limited chances of falling pregnant. “I was 46 and the chance of falling pregnant was very slim and the risk factors to the baby would be significant,” says Anthea.
“And the doctor said Pete, who was nearly 50, had ‘couch-potato sperm’ – they weren’t moving anywhere.”
Putting their baby hopes aside and being told they were too old to adopt, the couple trained to be foster parents, taking in two siblings for two years.
Meanwhile, Anthea sold her real estate business, hoping that she and Peter could renovate their house and take time off to be “grey nomads and travel around the countryside”.
Then came the global financial crisis and Peter, a property developer, found himself with serious financial challenges. His health declined, he put on 15kg and suffered from blinding migraines and a dangerously enlarged liver.
From internet research, Peter became convinced he could naturally lower his cholesterol, triglycerides and liver count, so he began a seven-day vegetable and fruit juice fast of carrot, apple and small amounts of celery.
Over the next few months, he slowly introduced raw food (broccoli, baby spinach, cauliflower, tomato, capsicum and cucumber), flaxseed oil and small servings of protein. He drank at least 1.6 litres of water a day, cut out all salt, sugar and alcohol, and started walking daily.
“I went back to the doctor. I had lost 11kg and the results showed that I had managed to turn around all my problems,” says Peter.
Little did he know, he’d also given his lazy sperm a fighting chance.
